Soft Poo and Feeding

[Chinmama]

ZZ has had soft poos for two days now. They are larger than normal (his normal poos are very small...always have been) and shiny looking. They are formed, but squish out flat when he steps on them.

He is still eating, playing and sleeping like normal. No recent changes in anything. Just the sudden soft poos.

When I noticed it yesterday morning, I gave him a shreddie in the morning, followed by a half of an acidophilus wafer yesterday evening. I didn't give him any pellets yesterday or today, just lots of hay. This evening, his poos are the same. I just gave him his hay and he tore through it in no time and is staring at me now through the cage bars like he is starving to death. Should I give him some pellets since he is so hungry? Or just keep on with the hay?

 

[CerLynn]

One of our boys gets stress-induced diarrhea on occasion, and it usually takes 5-7 days for him to completely clear up. What usually works for us (since he's always liked his pellets more than his hay) is just giving him a small percentage of his usual pellets for maybe 3 days or so - his usual is 4 tbsp (all at night), so we'll start back at 1/2 or 1 tbsp. After those 3 days, we'll add another 1/2 tbsp in the morning. After another day, we'll give him 2 tbsp total, split morning/night again. And so on. This way he gets the benefit of a mostly hay diet but doesn't feel like he's absolutely starving. We'll also give one probiotics-filled shreddie per day for the first few days. Good luck!

 

[Chinmama]

His poos looked a lot better this morning, so I will be starting him back slowly on his pellets tonight. He is more of a pellet eater than a hay eater, so he hasn't liked the hay only too much. He just looks at me like "what is with all this hay, and where the heck are my pellets?"

I've always read to pull pellets and feed hay only to help resolve soft poos, but was questioning it when ZZ still seemed to be so hungry after eating a huge pile of hay.

 

[CerLynn]

Glad to hear he's doing better!

The first time it happened with Kenai, we pulled pellets completely for a couple days, and his weight dropped dramatically. Despite being obviously hungry, he just refused to eat a substantial amount of hay... hence moving to a partial pull, which seems to keep him a little happier while his digestive system fixes itself.

 

[musherbob]

soft poos

Three things to remember:Good hay,water,& feed.
Bob